Objectives: To evaluate the capacity of 8 screening questions to validly identify priorities for dental care. Method: Using a cross sectional study design, a convenience sample of 310 patients seeking dental care was selected from the first five callers per day requesting symptomatic care at 2 South Australian Dental Service (SADS) community dental clinics. Callers […]

Objectives: To investigate trends in receipt of hospital dental care among Australian children. Methods: Hospital dental separation data for children aged 0-9 years were obtained from the AIHW Hospital Morbidity Database for the years 1993-2004. Data were collected for administrative purposes and recorded in standardised ICD-9-AM and ICD-10-AM codes. The receipt of extractions and restorations […]

Caries risk is assessed clinically for all children in the South Australian (SA) school dental service (SDS) where cross-sectional data show age-related reduction in the percentage children classified as high-risk (%HIGH). However, longitudinal patterns of changes in risk status and disease rate have not previously been reported. OBJECTIVE: To examine longitudinal age-related patterns of clinically-assessed […]

A caries risk test, suitable for mass-screening, should not only be predictive of caries but also be inexpensive, easy to use and provide results in a short time-frame. Therefore we developed a simple colorimetric test (SAP) that indicates the rate of acid production of salivary microbes under acidic conditions. Objectives: – assess agreement between the […]

Objective: To evaluate oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of children by caries and fluorosis status. Methods: A random sample of South Australian 8-13-yo children were selected. Caries data was collected from school dental service records. Children were examined for fluorosis using the TF Index to form groups by fluorosis scores on maxillary central incisors. […]

Objectives: To quantify coronal and root caries incidence and increments in a random sample of dentate community-living older adults from the South Australian Dental Longitudinal Study (SADLS). Methods: Data was analysed from a longitudinal study in urban (Adelaide) and rural (Mt Gambier) South Australia between baseline, and 5-year and 11-year follow-ups. Results: At baseline 913 […]

Objectives: To re-evaluate analytical challenges and how they were related to oral epidemiological gold standard’ protocols in longitudinal geriatric studies. Methods: Data and oral epidemiological gold standard’ protocols were used from two longitudinal studies in South Australia: the South Australian Dental Longitudinal Study (SADLS); and the Oral Health of Older Adults with Dementia. Results: De […]

Objective: To investigate time trends in dental service provision. Methods: A random sample of Australian private general practice dentists were sent mailed questionnaires in 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003 (response rates 71%-76%). Services per visit were collected from a log of a typical clinical day. The annual number of services provided per dentist was […]

An understanding of the oral health-related quality of life of children is in an early stage of development. The recently available Child Perception Questionnaire (CPQ8-10 for 8-10-year-olds, CPQ11-14 for 11-14-year-olds) and corresponding Parental Perception Questionnaire (PPQ) have mostly been tested in convenience patient samples. Therefore, little is known about oral health-related quality of life of […]

Cross-sectional studies of nationally-representative samples have found fewer adverse impacts on health related quality of life (HRQoL) reported by people aged 70+ years compared with people aged 60-69 years, a result consistent with an ageing effect of increasing resilience and/or resignation. However, differences observed in cross-sectional studies may also be due to cohort or period […]